


12 Days of Christmas

by Smidge



Category: Doctor Who RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-16
Updated: 2012-12-28
Packaged: 2017-11-21 06:50:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 18,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/594714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smidge/pseuds/Smidge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompted by the '25 days of fic' post on Tumblr.</p><p>(But changed to twelve days as it went past Christmas before I completed them all.)</p><p>The Doctor Who cast at Christmas!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mistletoe

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry I have had a very busy December so far and have just got round to writing this.  
> I have never written any fan fiction before, but enjoy reading them so thought I would give it a go! - So please be nice :)
> 
> I will write each chapter as a new day leading up to Christmas from the 1st December, and all the chapters will make up a complete story, rather than doing one-shots.
> 
> Obviously I will try to post more than one a day, otherwise this will take us past Christmas!
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Alex could definitely tell it was December as she drove through the dark streets into work this morning. She wore her long red coat with a white scarf and matching gloves, two pairs of very fluffy socks and her new Uggs, and she still couldn't feel her fingers or toes. By the time she’d walked across the car park into the studio at 6am she had surely lost her nose to the cold as well.

There weren't many people about yet as Alex had been called in especially early to meet Steven for a chat about her character and his plans for ‘River’ in the coming season.

Forty-five minutes later, Alex could be seen emerging from Steven’s office with a huge grin and a twinkle in her eye. She, again, knew something that nobody else did, besides Steven of course. Steven gave her a hug and sneaked in a kiss to her cheek as he pulled back. Alex smiled at him then left to find and torment her friends.

She waved at some of the crew and shouted her “Hellos” and “Good mornings” across the set. Passing Peter, one of the cameramen, he caught her with an arm around her waist as she smiled at him, pulling her closer and leaving a kiss on her cheek. Alex looked up at him, a little in shock.

“Good morning Alex!” Peter grinned,

“Morning Peter” she replied, a little warily.

He released his had from her waist and she continued her way across set, looking back at Peter quizzically, but he’d already turned back to his work.

Not looking where she was going Alex walked straight into Ben, a sound boom operator, who had obviously just rushed in from the cold.

“Careful there Alex!” He warned, grabbing her shoulders to steady her.

“Oh! Thank you!” She replied she turned her attention to him.

He seemed to look at her hair then into her eyes. _Was he smirking?_  Then, with his hands still on her shoulders, he pulled her into him kissing her once on the right cheek and once on the left. Alex quickly regained focus as he appeared to be heading for another kiss between the two he’d already given.

Placing a hand on his chest to stop him she looked up, “Good morning Ben!” she said pointedly.

He smiled and relaxed his hold on her shoulders, “Indeed it is when I get to see you!”.

Alex was used to people flirting with her, everybody flirted on set, and usually she would flirt back, but something was different today, it was like everyone was in on something she didn't know about and it put her on edge.

As Ben walked away she spotted Arthur over by the door talking to one of the make-up girls.

“Morning Dad!” she called as she came up to him. The make-up girl smiled at Alex then left as Arthur turned his attention to his friend.

“Hello there Alex!” he grinned, put his arm around her back and drew her into a hug, placing a kiss to the corner of her mouth as he pulled away and released his hold.

“What is...” Alex looked up at him quizzically, about to retort when Karen came galloping up to them, flung her arms around Alex’s neck and kissed her squarely on the lips.

Alex’s hands finally settled on the girls hips in an attempt to push her away, but Karen wasn't about to give in. She released Alex’s lips with a loud ‘mwah’ then spun round and hugged Arthur. _That girl has way too much energy for this early on such a cold day._

“ _What_ was that?” Alex demanded.

Everyone she had bumped into had kissed her this morning, and although she can’t deny she likes the attention, she finds it a little odd when even Karen joins in.

“What? Is a mother not allowed to kiss her daughter when she is wearing mistletoe?” Karen countered.

“But, you’re not wearing mistletoe...” Alex pointed out as she alternated between scanning her friend for mistletoe and looking at Arthur for support. _Now he’s smirking!_

“No. Alex, you are!” He states.

“What? No, I'm not!”

“In your hair.” Arthur points.

Alex’s hand shoots up to her hair and as she turns to find a mirror she spins into Matt. Still wrapped in his coat and scarf, end of his nose tinted pink, he had obviously just walked in too.

He glances at her hair, smirks, (another one?!?,) dips her and plants his lips over hers. Alex squeaks in shock and she can feel Matt smile against her. His tongue licks along her bottom lip asking for access, which she will deny as this is quite enough and she’d like to know who’s idea this was and give them a piece of her mind.

“Get in there Matt!” she hears Steven’s voice as he walks past, and gasps as she realises who the culprit is.

Matt takes this opportunity to slip his tongue inside, and she considers biting him like she did that actor she told Graham Norton about. Matt had watched that interview, he couldn't say he didn't have fair warning.

But then actually, she found she was rather enjoying it! Matt had kissed her before, on set, as the Doctor and her as River, and she knew he was a good kisser, but this was different. Even though it was only triggered by the mistletoe, it was them, Matt kissing Alex, not the Doctor kissing River.

Suddenly she wondered how he hadn't fallen over or dropped her already and then worried that he would any second now. Sensing her tension Matt straightened, bringing Alex back up with him and he beamed at her.

“Good morning Kingston!”

“Er yes..morning Matt.” She replied, still a little startled.

“You can’t put mistletoe in your hair and not expect to be kissed, Kingston!” He stated, sensing her hesitation.

“I didn’t!” Alex almost shouted.

“Then who...” Matt went to reply but Alex had already started storming back towards Steven’s office. _Ooh that man is gonna pay!_


	2. Hot Chocolate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So like I said, I will try to do more than one chapter a day otherwise Christmas will whiz past us. 
> 
> Also, a reminder that this is my first fan fiction, they're probably not that good and they're pretty short chapters. But I hope you like them all the same :)

They had all been working into the early hours of the morning for the past few nights, and tonight was no exception. It was almost midnight. Alex sat in a chair on the corner of the set eating a piece of cake, one of the crew had brought in for a birthday, wishing she had a nicer drink, than her bottle of water, to go with it, but feeling too cold and sleepy to go get one.

 

Resigned to her water, she sighed and popped the last bit of cake in her mouth just as Matt plopped himself into the chair beside her.

 

Alex had been watching them all shoot a scene River wasn’t involved in, and now Matt was temporarily no longer needed as Karen and Arthur shot solo scenes.

 

“Got one for you too!” Matt stated, shoving a white polystyrene cup into her hands.

 

“Mmm...” Alex nodded at him and smiled as she swallowed her mouthful, “Thank you, Darling!”

 

“Shame you finished your cake, Kingston.” Matt sighs, “Would have gone well with hot chocolate!”

 

Alex hummed her agreement as she took a sip, closing her eyes and marvelling at the feel of the warm, sweet liquid running down her throat.

 

“You sure sound like you’re enjoying that!” Matt said, eyebrow raised slightly in question.

 

“Indeed I am! Thank you, sweetie” she replied, thanking him again for apparently being able to read her mind.

 

She took another sip and Matt could not help but watch her. The way her lips curled around the polystyrene at the top of the cup. The way her eyes fluttered shut as the warm liquid entered her mouth. And the way the muscles in her throat flexed as she swallowed, humming contently.

 

“You made that sound yesterday.” Matt couldn’t help himself; the words just tumbled out of his mouth.

 

“I...I – What sound?” Alex looked over at him, slightly startled to see that he hadn’t looked away from her since she last spoke. _Was he blushing?_

“Um, nothing! Never mind!” He mumbled, immediately looking anywhere but at Alex, his fingers playing nervously with the lid of his cup.

 

“Matt!” She giggled, surprised at his reaction, he wasn’t one to blush and go all shy, especially around Alex, their conversations were all flirty and full of innuendo.  “What sound?” she bumped her shoulder with his, pushing him for an answer. “And when yesterday? What are you talking about?”

 

“Eh, it doesn’t matter. Forget I said it.” He replied, studying his hot chocolate like he had never seen anything so fascinating in his life.

 

“Matt?” she questioned him in a more serious tone, placing a hand on his shoulder. She wasn’t about to give up. He was acting strange and fidgety. Now she really wanted to know what sounds she had unintentionally been making and when, and why they seemed to make him so embarrassed.

 

“Yesterday morning” he humphed, not looking up from his cup. “You...you made, like a satisfi...well...like, a content hum, I s’pose”

 

“A hum?” Alex questioned, looking bemused.

 

“Yes, a hum. A content hum. When I kissed you yesterday.” He gave in. He couldn’t take it back now, she would have kept going until he told her, or gone into a silly sulk if he refused.  Or worse, imagined the most inappropriate things and he would have never lived it down.

 

“Oh!” she gasped. She wasn’t expecting that. Her mind wandered back to his kiss, he’d only done it because of the mistletoe, _hadn’t he?_ She recalls her surprise as she’d bumped into him and her shocked squeak as he dipped her, firm hands against her back, soft lips against her own, the feel of his tongue as it found entrance into her mouth and slid over and around hers...

 

“Yep! That one!”

 

“What? I..” coming back to her senses she realised Matt was looking at her again; flush vanished from his cheeks, a smirk on his lips and a twinkle in his eye. He winked at her.

 

Straightening herself in her seat, she decided to ignore him and took another, long sip of her drink. She must have done it again because he giggled. Actually giggled next to her, before taking a sip of his own drink.

 

She glared at him as he watched her from the corner of his eye. Attempting not to laugh again, he closed his eyes and let his head fall back as he swallowed exaggeratedly and moaned delightfully.

 

Alex gasped in mock horror and slapped him on the arm, all attempts at chastising him thwarted by her laughter.

 

“That is _not_ what I sound like!” She retorted.

 

“Well, not quite,” he replied laughing, “but close enough!”

 

He winked at her again as he rose from his seat. He was being called over to hair and make-up.

 

“Enjoy the rest of your hot chocolate, Kingston!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoy this even a tiny bit please leave kudos, as kudos is encouragement for me to continue! :)


	3. Snow

Today was bitterly cold. Alex had felt frozen since the moment she crawled out of her duvet this morning.

She’d had to get a lift in to work with Karen and Arthur as her car refused to start under such cold conditions.

 

“I don’t blame her,” Arthur had stated dryly, “I don’t think we should have to work in such conditions either!”

 

Lunch had been cut short as everybody was too cold to be sitting around waiting to get back to filming. 

Alex had almost frozen to death doing a scene outside with the TARDIS, until Arthur saved her by bringing her one of the hot water bottles Karen had nicked.

And now it was getting late, and Alex was getting irritable with being cold and now tired.

 

“The least it could bloody do is have the decency to snow!” Alex complained between gritted teeth, trying not to shiver.

 

“Even these hot water bottles are going cold.” Karen added, shoving a cold bottle into Arthur’s hands and resigning to only hugging the two slightly warmer ones.

 

“Here, I’ll re-warm them for you” Arthur suggested, taking Alex’s and attempting to take the other two from Karen. But she wouldn’t let go.

 

“You bring me a really warm one and I’ll let you take these two.” She states, hopping from one foot to another, attempting to keep warm.

 

“Right.” Arthur sighs, “Be right back.” And he walked off in search of hot water.

 

Without even a luke-warm water bottle Alex soon began to shiver. She leaned in to Matt who was standing next to her, feeling the heat radiating from his body.

 

“Trying to pinch my warmth now, are you Kingston?” he giggled, smiling at the sight of her; wrapped in a long black trench coat; over her silk dress, white scarf wrapped around her neck; at least twice, stamping her feet; still in River’s heels, rubbing her gloved hands together and breathing into them, nose pink with the cold and her breath making clouds in the night air.

 

“C’mere!” he sighed as he wrapped an arm around her, pulling her into his side. It wasn’t enough, she was still out in the cold air, unsheltered from the biting wind. She attempted to snuggle closer to him, curled up around herself, and she looked up at him sideways with a pleading gaze and shuddered dramatically.

 

“Oh, alright!” Matt gave in, releasing his arm from around her shoulder. She almost whimpered at the loss of contact, the cold air hitting her back again. But then he moved in front of her, unzipped the front of his long, thick trench coat and wrapped it around her – true Mark Darcy (Bridget Jones) style.

 

“Mmmm” she sighed, wrapping her arms around his waist and settling the side of her face against his warm chest.

 

“There’s that sound again.” He whispered into her hair, and smirked as she attempted to hit him.

 

He held her close and rested his head in her hair until Arthur returned with two newly heated water bottles.

Matt released his hands from around Alex and let her turn around to accept a hot water bottle.  But Karen had other ideas, dropping her, now cold, water bottles and grabbing both new ones from Arthur, hugging them to her tightly.

 

“They were for sharing Kaz.” Arthur said pointedly, giving Alex an apologetic glace.

 

“She has Matt!” Karen replied with a pout.

 

“I’m not a hot water bottle Kazza!” Matt retorted, wrapping his arms around Alex again.

Now she had her back to him, he was like a duvet wrapped all around her and she rested her head back against his chest.

 

“Yes you are,” Alex countered, “You’re _my_ hot water bottle. And you’re doing a much better job at warming me up than one of those did!” she smiled, and Karen stifled a laugh.

 

“Am I now?” Matt teased, “I’m sure I can think of better ways to warm you up than this!”

 

“I’m sure you can, sweetie!” she giggled, already feeling even warmer. Then she felt something cold land on her nose, and wrinkled it in response.

 

“Ah it’s SNOWING!!!” Karen squeaked in delight.

 

“Finally!” Arthur sighed, glancing over at Karen with a look of affection she was obviously too distracted to notice.

 

Alex gave Matt a knowing wink over her shoulder and he smiled back at her in understanding.

 

Karen had seemingly forgotten she was cold and slowly began turning with her arms out-stretched, gazing up through the snow at the sky.  Arthur sat on the bench behind him and just watched her with adoration as snowflakes landed in her hair and clung to her eyelashes.

 

Alex decided to join her, wriggling out from Matt’s embrace and twirling in the snow next to her friend. She stuck out her tongue as she spun, trying to catch snowflakes on it.  Karen giggled, slowing her turns as she watched her, promptly copying and revelling in the feel of the tiny frozen flakes landing all across her face.

 

Matt slumped onto the bench beside Arthur and smiled dreamily as they both became entranced by these two uniquely beautiful women, seemingly dancing in the first snowfall of the winter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really enjoying these. I hope you are too!


	4. Candy Canes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably only one chapter today as it is a longer one.  
> Just wanted to let you know I thoroughly enjoyed writing this one - probably because of a certain little munchkin I decided to write into it.

It was Tuesday, four days into December, and Alex stared out the window nursing her morning coffee, feeling almost enchanted by the light dusting of white covering everything in sight.

 

“Mommy?” whispered a sleepy Salome, plodding through the living room in her light blue, snowflake design pyjamas, rubbing her heavy lidded eyes.

 

“Look sweetheart, it snowed!” Alex whispered back, placing her coffee on the table and holding her arms out for her little girl to climb into.

 

Salome cuddled in her arms, swaying and humming to the soft music in her head, both gazing out into the delicate, snowy wonderland, Alex felt giddy with happiness.

 

The beautiful moment was shattered by the shrill ring of Alex’s phone. She put her daughter down and ushered her into the kitchen to find breakfast as she rummaged through her bag for her mobile.

 

“Hello?” Alex answered it just before it clicked over to voicemail.

 

“Hi, Alex?” a quiet, watery voice was on the other end of the line. Alex heard a muffled sound over the mouthpiece and what could have been a sneeze. “Ergh!... Alex?..Sorry, I’m not going to be able to look after Salome today. I feel awful. I only hope I haven’t already passed anything on to her. I’m really sorry!” More muffled sounds and another sneeze.

 

“That’s alright Christine, I can take her in to work with me today. We don’t have too many scenes to shoot it should be an easy day, I’m sure I can find someone who’s not too busy to keep an eye on her.” Alex replied, “You just rest and get yourself better before my little girl starts to miss you!”

 

“Oh, thanks Alex. Again, I am really sorry!”

 

“Not a problem. Thanks for letting me know. You look after yourself.”

 

She hangs up and smiles, knowing how pleased Salome is going to be to hear she is coming to work with mummy.

 

“Salome?” Alex calls as she wonders into the kitchen. Her daughter is sitting at the counter, swinging her legs, poking at her cheerios. “Sweetheart, I’m afraid Christine is not very well today...so...you’re going to have to come into work with mummy...”

 

“Really?” Alex was trying to keep a straight face, but the excitement in Salome’s eyes and voice was overwhelming.

 

“Yes. I know it’s a great hardship, but hopefully it’ll only be for one day, if you think you can manage it.”

 

“Oh Mommy! I love going to the set! I can see Matty and the TARDIS and play with Karen’s hair and oh it’s gonna be so much fun! Can we go now? I don’t need my Cheerios. I’m not hungry. Oh please Mommy _Please_?”

 

“Haha, I’m glad you’re so excited, darling. But you _do_ need your breakfast.” Alex grinned, “Now you finish eating while Mummy finds a few things she needs for the day, and then we’ll go.”

 

“Yay!” Salome beamed, “I mean, I am sorry to hear Christine is ill.” She said, trying to sound sincere, “But I get to go to your work and I haven’t been in so long Mommy!”

 

Salome immediately gulped down her Cheerios as Alex found what she had been looking for in a draw by her wardrobe.  Karen had decided yesterday lunchtime that ‘everyone should buy candy canes for the ones they love, and give them out tomorrow’.  So that is what they were going to do.  Alex had bought 6 candy canes – one for each of her most favourite people and two for the one very special person in her life.

 

She heard the sound of cutlery being placed in the sink, then hefty footsteps running through the living room as she arrived in the hallway.

 

“You elephant!” Alex attempted to chastise her daughter for running and being noisy, “It is only six-thirty in the morning, there are people downstairs still trying to sleep!”

 

“I know Mommy, I’m sorry.” Salome played with her hands in front of her and looked down at her feet. “But we’re going to work!” She looked up again, such excitement in her eyes.

 

“Well, I can only hope you are this excited about going to work when you’re older and have to do it every day!” Alex replied, unable to suppress a giggle at her daughter’s glee.

 

Once they were both wrapped up warm; Alex in her long red coat with white scarf and matching gloves again, and Salome in a navy blue, knee-length coat with a yellow scarf and rainbow gloves, they set off out into the cold.

 

Thankfully, Alex’s car decided to start today and they were at the studio in no time.

 

Alex had barely turned the engine off before Salome was out of the car, staring in awe at the studio covered in snow.

 

She took Salome’s hand and they made their way across the car park and into the warmth.

 

Looking around, Alex could see Karen and Arthur hadn’t arrived yet, but Matt’s floppy hair was highly recognisable over by the coffee machine – Salome had already spotted him.

 

“Mommy, Mommy, can I go and say hello to Matty?” She pleaded, pulling on Alex’s hand.

 

“Yes, go on then.” She replied as Salome’s hand disappeared from hers and she darted across the room. “I’ll come with you!” She called after her.

 

“MATTY!” Matt turned round just in time to see the little one hurtling towards him and scoop her into his arms for a hug.

 

“Alright there, Poppet?” He smiled, spinning her around. Salome just giggled, beside herself with joy.

 

“Her babysitter is unwell this morning, so we decided she could come into work with me for once.” Alex explained as she caught up to them.

 

“Good morning, Kingston!” He grinned, and steadied himself as Alex leaned up on her toes to kiss him on the cheek.

 

“Yes it is!” Salome butted in. “There’s snow everywhere, and I’m at work with Mommy, and I get to see you and the TARDIS and...ooh where’s your badger Matty?”

 

“Ah, see now, he didn’t know you were coming in today poppet, so he’s still at home keeping warm.”

 

“Oh, well..maybe you could bring him round ours sometime to play?” she replied, trying not to sound too disheartened. “Where’s Karen? I want to plait her hair!”

 

“She’s not here yet, sweet...” Alex began, but was cut off by a high pitched squeal and a rush of red hair.

 

“SALOME!” Karen bounded up to them, grabbed Salome from Matt’s arms and spun her once before putting her down in front of her. “You never said you were coming today!” Karen reprimanded her as if she should have phoned or facebooked her or _something_.

 

“And how was she supposed to tell you?” Alex interjected.

 

“Well then, maybe _you_ should have told me!” Karen shot back.

 

“It was a last minute thing this morning Karen, we didn’t know. Else, I assure you, we would have told you!”

 

“Fine.” Karen humphed, defeated, “But this means I get to play with her first before anybody else!”

 

“Yay! Karen I want to play with your hair.” Salome insisted.

 

“Salome? I’m sure I brought you up better than that...” Alex warned.

 

“Um...please?” She corrected herself.

 

“Of course you can! I’m sure ‘hair and make-up’ will be delighted with you for that.” Karen teased as she walked Salome over to the chairs in the corner of the set.

 

Alex rolled her eyes and smiled, all too glad her friends enjoyed having Salome around as much as she enjoyed being around them.

 

The rest of the day went smoothly. Alex barely even saw Salome as she entertained herself with various members of cast and crew, only ‘hanging out’, as Salome put it, with Alex at lunchtime.

 

Karen had insisted on giving out all her candy canes (28 of them in total) at the beginning of the morning, as soon as Salome had relinquished her hold on her hair.  But now she was disappointed as she had received the exact same number as Arthur had.

 

“That’s not fair. I thought I would be way more popular than you, on account of my good looks and beautiful charm; of which _you_ have none.” Karen complained.

 

“Well, obviously I have more good looks and charm than you think, Moonface.” Arthur replied. “Or, you have a lot _less_ than you think” he smirked.

 

“Now, now. Play nice, children.” Alex placed a calming hand on Karen’s shoulder, knowing all too well where this could lead.

 

“At least I have more than Matt.” Karen convinced herself. “How many do you have Alex?”

 

“Oh, the most by far, I’m sure.” Matt joined in.

 

“Yes, well.” She knew she had the most, and she knew Karen had bet Arthur that she would get the most. But she was modest and didn’t want to hurt Karen’s pride. “I have a few. But the day is not over yet, Karen. You may still beat Arthur!”

 

Alex had been finding candy canes addressed to her all over the place, throughout the day.  The first was from Karen, of course, and had been left just outside her front door.  Then there had been two waiting for her in ‘hair and make-up’.  She found one inside the TARDIS in between takes mid-morning. Matt had kindly left his on her chair along with a hot chocolate ready for her when she had a short break. Someone had even managed to slip one into her hair and she hadn’t noticed until half-way through the afternoon when Salome looked at her a giggled as they passed each other.

 

At the end of the day after they had wrapped their scenes and Alex had given out candy canes to her favourite people, they were all headed back through the car park together when Salome saw something on the bonnet of Alex’s car.  She ran off and brought it back, another candy cane for Alex, claiming it had been tucked under her car windscreen wiper.

 

“That’s it.” Karen huffed. “why does everyone love you so much more than me. I still only have the same number of candy canes at Arthur and, sorry mate but, that sucks!”

 

“No you don’t.” Arthur stated, turning to Karen.

 

“Yes I do! You have five candy canes, and I have..onetwo, three..four, five! See?”

 

“Here!” He smiles, handing her another candy cane. “You haven’t received my one yet.”

 

“What?” Karen says in surprise, “Why didn’t you give me that earlier, I’ve been feeling rubbish all day.”

 

“Well, I was going to, until you started complaining that you only had the same number as me, then I thought it would be funny to wait to give it to you until the very end of the day, when you’d lost all hope!” Arthur replies quite proudly.

 

“Thats...” Karen begins to retort,

 

“..very nice of you Arthur!” Alex interrupts, raising an eyebrow at Karen who immediately ducks her head like a puppy being told off.

 

“Mmm, yes. I guess it is. Thank you Arthur.” She says shyly, giving him a hug.

 

“S’alright Kazza.” He replies, throwing his arm around her shoulders. “Let’s get home shall we.”

 

Alex waved them goodbye and unlocked the car as Salome hugged Matt goodbye.

 

“Behave yourself poppet.” He strokes the side of her cheek with the back of a finger and smiles up at him, “Was great to see you today!”

 

“You too Matty! Hopefully Christine will still be ill tomorrow so I can come in again”

 

“Salome!?!” Alex shoots her a look.

 

“I mean, I don’t want her to be ill, but I did really enjoy today and want to do it again.”

 

“Yes, today was fun having you around.” Matt ruffles her hair.

 

“Mommy, could Matty come home with us, for dinner...” Salome really wants this so makes sure she is polite, “..please?”

 

Slightly startled by how much she likes the idea of taking Matt home with them, she hesitates before she answers, “err...no!...No, not tonight Salome, I’ve barely seen you all day and was hoping we could have a girly ‘mother and daughter’ evening in.” She still has a surprise for Salome when they get home. “um..Maybe another night, would that be alright?”

 

She looks up from Salome to Matt as she speaks and he catches her eye, smiling that cute, lop-sided, irresistible smile, and Alex can’t help but smile back.

 

“Fine.” Salome sighs, resigned, and hops into the car.

 

Alex kisses Matt goodnight on the cheek and settles back into the seat of her car.

 

Once home and out of their warm, woolly clothes, Alex makes them both a hot chocolate and they curl up on the sofa together picking out a Christmassy dvd to watch.

 

“Mommy?” Salome’s tiny voice drifts across the sofa.

 

“Yes, Darling?”

 

“I know Karen was sad she didn’t get many candy canes today, but...” her bottom lip wobbled.

 

“Oh, what is it sweetheart?” Alex placed her hot chocolate on the table in front of her and wrapped an arm around her daughter pulling her into her side.

 

“well, um...I didn’t get _any_.” Her voice wavered. Alex could tell her little girl was growing up. There was no tantrum and demanding she got candy canes too. And she was trying so hard to stop there from being tears. But it had been a very long, exciting, exhausting day and she had done so well.

 

“Oh, Darling.” Alex snuggled her, “No one knew you were coming on set today, sweetie, otherwise I am sure you would have won!”

 

“But you did Mommy.” She replied in a watery voice, but Alex could still hear the pride in her little girl’s voice, that her Mummy had been given the most candy canes and therefore was the best. “And you gave all yours out to your favourite people and I _still_ didn’t get one.” She sounded so dejected, Alex couldn’t take it anymore.

 

“Yep, I gave one to Steven, one to Karen and to Arthur...”

 

“..And then two to your most special person. To Matt.” Salome cut in.

 

“No, sweetheart. Matt only got one candy cane from me!” she shifted on the sofa to face her daughter, who was curled into herself, confusion in her eyes.

 

“Then who...?” Salome started, as Alex held two candy canes in front of her and smiled down at her beautiful little girl.  Her eyes lit up as realisation dawned.

 

“ _You_ are the most special person in my life, Salome! You’re my daughter. You always will be.” She caught her daughter’s watery eyes with hers, and smiled.

 

Salome grinned, uncurling herself and throwing her arms around her mother’s neck. Alex held her so tight, she didn’t think she’d ever be able to let go.

 

“Also, we have the whole day off tomorrow.” Alex added as she pulled back and gave Salome the candy canes. “And I can think of nobody I would rather spend it with!”


	5. Christmas Tree

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I managed another chapter today - you lucky, lucky people ;)

“Guess what I have planned today?”Alex asked Salome as she stood on her tiptoes trying to get a large cardboard box down from on top of her wardrobe.

 

She was wearing red pyjama bottoms with images of reindeer on them, with a white tank top and her huge, warm, fluffy, dark red dressing gown that came down to her ankles.

 

Salome had just padded into Alex’s bedroom, wearing her blue, snowflake pyjamas, having awoken to the sound of something heavy thudding onto the bed in the room next door.

 

“I don’t know. What are you doing Mommy?” Salome enquired as she look over at the first box Alex had managed to get down.

 

The second one came down with another loud thud and a bounce as it landed on Alex’s bed, next to the first one.

 

“There we are!” Alex exclaimed in victory, “ _We_ are going to decorate the flat!”

 

Alex lifted the larger of the two boxes and hefted it into the living room.  Salome attempted to carry the second one down the hallway but resigned to dragging it across the maroon carpeted floor.

 

“Right, well you have a rummage through those and decide on our colour scheme, while I start making the pancakes!” Alex instructed as she walked through to the kitchen.

 

Five minutes later Alex appeared in the doorway between the kitchen and living room, stirring pancake mix, and sighed at the mess of decorations strewn across the living room floor.

 

“Red and gold, Mommy.” Salome stated matter-of-factly, looking up at her mother with a proud grin.

 

“Alright, well we’ll sort them into colours after breakfast, Darling.” Alex said, turning back towards the kitchen. “Come help me flip the pancakes.”

 

After four helpings of pancakes each, and large dollops of maple syrup, the plates and cutlery were tossed into the sink and Alex and Salome headed back into the living room.

 

Alex set to work on separating all the colours so that they would only be using the red and gold decorations, while Salome skipped over to the music system and set up a playlist of Christmas songs.

 

“I put your favourite one on to play first, Mommy!” Salome smiled as she settled down next to Alex and helped her sort through the decorations.

 

The music began and they both sang along as they untangled lights, unknotted streams of tinsel and put the baubles and other bits of decoration into piles of red and gold.

 

They had just sung “And the bells, were ringing out, for Christmas Day!” as Alex’s phone rang.

 

“Hello?” She answered, “Turn it down, sweetie” she directed Salome with a hand over the mouthpiece.

 

“Matt!” she listened to his greeting and he began to ramble.

 

“Matty? ...Mommy?” Salome grinned and looked up at her mother with a silent plea for the phone.

 

Alex bopped her on the nose with a finger and mouthed for her to “be patient.”

 

“Shopping?...” Alex sounded dubious as she listened to Matt go on about how Karen had roped him into going Christmas shopping with her as Arthur was out of town, and would her and Salome like to come with them?

 

“Mmm..not today, Darling. Sorry, Salome and I have major plans to decorate the entire flat.”

 

Salome was practically bouncing on her knees now, gazing up at her mother, with her hands together and chanting “please, please” over and over under her breath.

 

“I do need to go shopping though, so perhaps another day?”

 

“Mommyyyy?” She begged.

 

“Oh alright!” she sighed, exasperated at her daughter, “Matthew dear, Salome would like to talk to you.”

 

“Matty!” she squealed down the phone as she’d pounced and grabbed it out of Alex’s hand.  Alex only hoped she’d given him enough warning to save him from being deafened.

 

“Don’t keep him too long Salome.” Alex turned back to the piles of decorations, as Salome skipped out into the hallway, and decided to get the tree out of its box first.

 

She was just separating the last of the branches as Salome bounced back into the room to assist.

 

“Have a nice chat with Matt, Darling?” Alex enquired?

 

“Yep!” Salome answered simply.

 

“ What did you talk about?”

 

“Stuff!”

 

“What _kind_ of ‘stuff’?”

 

“Stuff I like to talk about!”

 

_Typical teenage girl she is, and she’s not even in her teens yet._

“Like what?” Alex didn’t like her daughter being all secretive. Especially about a conversation she had had with one of _her_ friends.

 

“Like...none of your business, Mommy!”  Salome giggled. “It was a conversation _I_ had with _my_ friend Matty.”

 

“He’s my friend too!” Alex protested.

 

“Yes. So you have your conversations with him, and I’ll have mine! I didn’t ask what _your_ conversation was about, did I?”

 

“Well, I think it was pretty obvious, Darling. And _I_ didn’t have to sneak out the room to have _my_ conversation.”

 

“Ooh I like this song!” Salome changed the subject and went to turn the music back up as ‘I wish it could be Christmas everyday’ came on, then started dancing around the room.

 

Alex watched her, and laughed in delight as she finished unravelling the lights and Salome collapsed onto the sofa, out of breath from dancing and singing, at the end of the song!

 

Alex twisted the lights around the tree and plugged them in as her daughter fetched them both drinks.

 

“Flick the lights off while you’re there, sweetheart?” Alex requested as Salome walked back into the room.

 

Everything went dark and Alex switched the tree lights on, brightening the corner of the room and the tree with tiny white lights that flickered and glowed, sending long shadows dancing across the floor.

 

Relieved that all the bulbs were there and working, Alex switched them off again and Salome turned on the main lights before settling back on the floor, cross-legged, and pulling a long string of gold tinsel from the pile.

 

It shimmered in the light as it twisted out from her hand. Alex took it from her with silent acknowledgment and draped it around the tree three times.

 

The same was done with a red strand, before the rest of the tinsel was hung around the flat; dangling over picture frames and mirrors, wrapping around the stems of lamps and laid out across the windowsills. Christmas cards were suspended on string either side of the door into the kitchen, and other little Christmassy decorations, like candles, a mini 3d cardboard Santa and Rudolph and other ornaments were strategically placed around the room.

 

Once they had finished their drinks and eaten tuna sandwiches for lunch, they set back to work on decorating the tree.

 

They delicately hung baubles on the ends of the branches, carefully positioned bows across and between branches and added the special, fragile, tree ornaments that had been made by Alex, Salome and even Alex’s mother, when they were at school. All the while listening and singing along, loudly, to ‘Jingle Bells’, ‘We wish you a Merry Christmas’ and ‘Santa Claus is coming to town’, among others.

 

As the music came to a stop, Alex lifted Salome as high as she could in order to place the shining star at the top of the tree.

 

Then they turned off all the lights and switched only the tree lights on, standing back and admiring their work.

 

“It’s so Christmassy, Mommy!” Salome exclaimed.

 

“It is!” Alex agreed, “But there’s a better way to see it than this." And she lay down on her back near the tree and wriggled upwards until she was under it and could see all the way up through the branches.

 

Salome quickly joined her, eager and inquisitive, intrigued as to why it was better.

 

“Oh Mommy, it’s beautiful!” She gasped. Lights twinkling like stars through the branches above her, gleaming off the tinsel and landing softly on the bows and decorations.

 

“Stockings!” Alex suddenly remembered.

 

She slithered out from under the tree and hurried into her bedroom, returning, not thirty seconds later, with two pretty, handmade stockings.  She placed them either side of the tree, then reached for her phone.

 

“Pizza alright for dinner?” she questioned.

 

“Mmmhmm.” Salome answered in a dreamy state, mesmerised by the view above her.

 

Alex dialled the pizza company and ordered one large Hawaiian with extras, then settled herself back down next to her daughter under the tree.

 

It was rare for Alex to have Salome over for Christmas. She spends most of the year living in the States with her father, and usually only visits for the Summer. But this Summer Florian had sent her on camp, against Alex’s wishes, and they hadn’t seen each other until he allowed her to visit for Christmas. Well, for all of December and part of January before she had to be back for school. It was longer than they normally had.  And Alex was enjoying herself so much. She wanted to spend every minute with her daughter, but that wasn’t possible with her work. So she made sure she devoted as much time as she could, when she wasn’t working, to being with her little girl and giving her precious memories for when they couldn’t be together.

 

The doorbell startled Alex from her daydream and she went to relieve the delivery man as Salome looked out ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ for them to watch while they ate.

 

They were both curled up together on the sofa, under Alex’s double duvet when the credits began to roll. Alex glanced over at Salome, who was breathing deeply with her eyes closed next to her, fast asleep from another exciting day. She couldn’t help the smile that crept over her face, feeling all cosy and Christmassy, with the most important thing in the world to her fast asleep against her feet. Alex had never been happier.


	6. Angels

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I didn't manage to write yesterday.  
> But here is one from today! And I am just working on another one.
> 
> Enjoy x

“Morning my little Angel” Alex smiled as she sat on the edge of the bed and stroked Salome’s hair from her face.

 

“Mommy?” a sleepy Salome rubbed her eyes and gazed up at her mum.

 

“It’s snowing again, Darling!” She shifted slightly so that her daughter could sit up, and pulled the curtains aside so they could see out the window.

 

Salome just stared, mouth open slightly, as she gazed out across the street; obviously still adjusting to being awake as well as feeling in awe at the enchanting view.

 

“Ready for another day at work, sweetheart?”Alex questioned quietly, not wanting to disturb the peace that seemed to have settled in her daughter.

 

“Really?” now she was awake! “Yes! Yes!” Salome bounced off the bed and scurried over to her chest of drawers, hurriedly pulling everything out until she found the top she was looking for; red, long-sleeved, with Rudolph printed on the front.

 

“Right, well then,” slightly taken aback by her daughter’s sudden enthusiasm, “I’ll leave you to tidy this up, while I make breakfast.” She gestured to the pile of clothes strewn across the floor.

 

Half an hour later they were both on their way to work.

Alex shot most of her scenes during the morning in her usual costume; green dress and leggings, huge belt and knee-high boots. However she now had a change of costume for one small scene appearing near the end of the episode.

 

The snow didn’t stop falling all day. As Alex made her way across the studio from the costume department the tiny flakes landed in her hair and she left footprints in the snow that had settled.

 

It had taken almost two hours for the costume and hair and make-up departments to adjust her clothing and fix her hair for this scene. And as she walked back onto set, everyone was waiting to see her.

 

She wandered in with a net over her hair and her long black trench coat over her shoulders and was immediately bombarded with requests to see her costume.

 

“I have a scene to do, be patient; you’ll have plenty of time to see it.” Alex assured her friends and daughter as she carefully took off the protective net around her hair. She didn’t know what all the fuss was about, just because it was a new costume; Karen was given a new costume almost every episode.

 

Steven greeted her with a smile and a nod and directed her to her place on set.

 

She and Matt went through the dialogue and mapped out their movements a couple of times, then Steven asked if everyone was ready to start shooting and, receiving nods and affirmatives from most of the crew, he moved to help Alex remove her coat.

 

Matt had turned back to his friends to make a comment about something he’d noticed earlier, but they were all staring past him, eyes wide with adoration and a few jaws dropped. He span back round to see what all the fuss was about and promptly tripped over his own feet, landing flat on his back by Alex’s sparkling shoes.

 

Dazed, from hitting his head, and not quite remembering where he was for a moment, Matt gently opened his eyes to a beautiful sight.  Everything was bright and the edges of his vision were blurry, but standing over him with an honest look of concern, was an Angel.  She had to be an Angel. She was the most divine creature he had ever seen; all dressed in white and lace with brilliant blonde curls framing her face and a smile that lit up his heart.  He felt all light and floaty. Her lips were moving but he couldn’t quite make out what she was saying.

 

“Matt?...Matt, Darling!” Alex’s voice was soft, “Oh, Matthew, are you alright?”Full of concern for her friend she knelt down beside him as his other friends only laughed; they were used to his clumsy tumbles by now and usually he never hurt more than his pride.

 

Slowly, Matt came back to his senses at the sound of her voice. Realising who this ‘Angel’ really was, he scrambled to sit up, a blush creeping up his cheeks in embarrassment.

 

“Whoa, not so fast sweetie! You fell down pretty hard.” Alex placed a caring hand on his shoulder, “Take your time; we don’t want you falling again.”

 

“I...I, um...Wow! You look amazing!” Matt raked his eyes over her costume, he lifted a hand up and delicately pulled on one of her curls, giggling as he released it and it sprung back into place.

 

“I’m glad you like it,” she smiled as she helped him back to his feet, “but everybody else appears to be capable of admiring it from an upright position, Darling.” She teased.

 

He pouted, and she laughed.

 

“Well then Matt, if you’re alright...May we continue?” Steven enquired, eager to get this final scene filmed so that everyone could go home.

 

The rest of the shoot ran smoothly and Alex reluctantly changed out of the gorgeous, white, silk and lace dress; _it was an exquisite costume and had beautifully complemented her figure._

As they all left the studio, the flakes were still falling lightly and the sky was darkening. Mounds of pristine, white snow blanketed the ground and roof and every surface in sight, and the four friends stopped in their tracks to gaze in amazement.

 

Salome was the first to break the silence, skipping into a wide expanse of untouched white and lying down.  Karen gasped the moment Salome set foot into immaculate scene, but hurried to join her as soon as she realised what she was up to. Alex followed shortly after, laying the opposite side of her daughter from Karen, with her arms and legs splayed in a star-shape.

 

“Come on boys!” Salome instructed as Matt and Arthur stared, too overwhelmed to move.

 

The girls were all lying flat on their backs, waving their arms up and down at their sides and shifting their legs open and closed.  Before long the boys caught on and joined them, forming a circle of snow angels, all with their feet facing inwards.

 

One by one they cautiously rose from the ground, making sure not to disturb the snow around their angel.

 

“Mine looks tiny!” Salome exclaimed.

 

“Well you are the smallest person here, sweetheart” Alex reasoned, “by quite a long way!”

 

“Wow! Mine actually looks really good.” Karen observed joyfully, her wings were the fullest and went almost from her head to her ‘skirt’.

 

“Alex’s is the best though!” Matt pointed, “Look, her hair has indented the snow and given her angel ringlets!”

 

Alex smiled; a familiar warmth curling deep inside her, and she felt so happy to be with her wonderful friends and incredible daughter, just playing in the snow, on this perfect night.


	7. Pie

Alex finished work early today. It was still light outside and the snow had lifted.

 

She shook off her coat, unwound her scarf from her neck and placed her gloves on the chair in her hallway, before making her way into the living room to greet her daughter.

 

Salome was sprawled out on the floor next to the tree, the glow from the Christmas lights her only source of light, coloured pencils scattered across the carpet in front of her as she drew.

 

“Okay, I think I’ve found everything, Salome.” A familiar voice floated through from the kitchen. “You’re mother should be home any sec...Alex!”A startled young woman stood in the doorway and grinned at her.

 

“Hi, Christine.” Alex smiled back and thanked her for taking care of Salome while she was at work.

 

“No problem, she was a joy!” Christine assured her, “She was in the mood for baking earlier so I have set all the ingredients out and suggested she bake with you once you were home from work. We thought it might be a nice way for you to wind down.”

 

“Ah, wonderful!” Alex clapped her hands together in glee, “What are we making?”

 

“I thought mince pies!” Salome spoke, finally lifting her eyes from her work for a moment to acknowledge her mother’s return.

 

“Oh, what a lovely idea” Alex cried, “then I can take some into work with me tomorrow and be the most popular girl around!”

 

“You already are, Mom!” Salome winked, and returned her attention to her art.

 

Alex grinned and said goodbye to Christine, thanking her again, and softly closing the front door behind her.

 

“Come on then, love!” Alex beckoned, all too eager to begin baking.  Alex wasn’t the best of cooks, she knew that; how could she forget when her own daughter made it her job to remind her at the most embarrassing moments. But baking, she could do. Baking, she actually enjoyed, no matter what it was she was making, or who would be eating it afterward.

 

She bounded into the kitchen, surprised at her new-found energy after a tiring days work. Everything was indeed all laid out along the counter, and the recipe book left open at the right page. _Christine really was wonderful!_

 

She waltzed across the room and turned the oven on to pre-heat to 200°c.  Turning back to the counter she grabbed the large bowl she always uses for mixing and began to add the flour, as Salome sauntered in ready to help.

 

“Butter, please!” Alex requested as she sensed her daughter hovering behind her.

 

Salome passed her mother the butter, then wandered back out into the living room.

 

“Ta!...Salome?” Alex queried her daughter’s actions as she added the butter to the mixing bowl.

 

“MUSIC!” Salome called through the door, as she turned the music system on and pressed ‘play’ on their Christmas playlist.

 

‘All I want for Christmas is you’ drifted through the speakers and Salome had it just loud enough to reach the kitchen, and began to sing along, strolling back towards to kitchen now her hunger for music had been satisfied.

 

Alex had added a pinch of salt to the mixture and was now rubbing the flour and butter together with her fingertips in an attempt to make it look like breadcrumbs. If she was perfectly honest, this was her favourite part of baking; smooshing the mixture, getting stuck in and making her hands messy.

 

Salome cracked the egg into a small bowl and beat it, quietly singing ‘beat it, beat it’ by Michael Jackson between songs, causing Alex to giggle.

 

She brought the beaten egg over to the large mixing bowl and patiently waited for her mother to suggest she join in with the smooshing.

 

“Jump up, Darling, and you can have a go!” Alex gestured to the counter and Salome promptly followed in the direction she had pointed, hopping up onto the counter beside the bowl, swinging her legs and diving her hands straight into the mixture.

 

They smooshed together for most of the next song, then it was time to add the egg.  Alex stirred the mixture while Salome added a few of teaspoons of water as and when required. When the dough had reached the right consistency and wasn’t too sticky, Alex rolled it into a ball, wrapped it in cling film and placed it in the fridge to chill.

 

“Now what?” Salome asked, as they had to wait fifteen minutes for the pastry dough to chill.

 

“Well, why don’t you show me your drawing, sweetheart, I’d love to see it?”

 

“It’s hardly a masterpiece, Mom.” She admitted modestly.

 

They walked back into the living room and settled themselves on the floor by the tree, where Salome had been working earlier, to the relaxing sound of Bing Crosby’s ‘I’m dreaming of a white Christmas’.

 

“It is to me,” Alex sighed, “you make me so proud to be your mother, Salome.”

 

Salome smiled and picked up the piece of paper she had sketched on, handing it to Alex.

 

She took her time scanning it gladly, eyes focusing on every little detail. It was a winter scene, with children playing in the snow; making snowmen and having snowball fights, an ice rink was in the left corner with skaters of all abilities; some looked like they were wobbling a little, two had even fallen on their arses, she giggled at that, and then there were a few who appeared to be doing slightly more elaborate moves; jump, twirls, skating on one leg. There were woods in the background and a cosy couple were walking hand in hand, gazing into the star-studded sky.

 

“This is beautiful, Salome!”Alex breathed, in awe at her daughter’s creativity.

 

“Thanks, Mom.” She grinned, “I hoped you’d like it. You can keep it.”

 

“Oh, Darling, thank you! It’s wonderful.” Alex was glancing over the picture again, utterly transfixed, taking in every little scene that appeared before her. “Come with me.”

 

Alex gradually got to her feet; not taking her eyes from her daughter’s drawing, and began to walk towards her bedroom. Salome followed, a little confused as to what her mother was doing. She hovered in the doorway as Alex made her way to the other side of her bed and turned to face her daughter.  She smiled at her with a wink and pinned the picture in the centre of her corkboard; the place she pins all her most favourite things and precious memories, so she can look at them every morning as she is getting dressed and be reminded of the wonderful things that have happened in her life.

 

Salome gasps as she realises the significance of her mother’s gesture and runs across the room to her, throwing her hands around her waist and hugging her tightly. Alex laughs, puts her arms around her daughter’s shoulders and kisses the top of her head, gazing back at the drawing one last time before they head back into the kitchen to continue baking.

 

Salome retrieved the pastry dough from the fridge and took it out of its cling-film while Alex sprinkled flour across the counter. Then Alex promptly tore a third off the pasty and put it to the side, before rolling out the other two-thirds over the flour.

 

Taking the circular pastry cutters in her right hand, Alex placed it in the top left corner of the pastry and experimentally pressed down hard, creating a circular piece just the right size to fit in the pasty cups in the tray. Having judged the sizes correctly, she handed the cutters to Salome and nodded as consent for her daughter to have a go.

 

Salome made 24 circular cuts and Alex carefully placed each one into a cup until they had filled two twelve-cup trays.

 

Alex then filled two-thirds of each pastry covered cup with mincemeat, while Salome rolled out the last third of pasty and cut-out 24 star shapes, delicately placing them over each filled cup as a lid.

 

“And now into the oven!” Alex stated excitedly, picking up one tray in each oven-glove covered hand and dancing over to the oven, “Could you open it please, Darling?” She asked Salome, standing back slightly, “Careful!”

 

Salome pulled the door of the oven down, and heat radiated out around them and into the cool kitchen.  Alex placed one tray on each shelf and Salome promptly closed the door again.  Setting the timer for twenty minutes, Alex spun her daughter and ushered her out of the kitchen to choose a movie while she cleaned up.

 

Twenty minutes later, after dinner had been eaten and they were part way through ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks’, the oven alarm went off and Alex scuttled into the kitchen to check on their mince pies.  They were perfectly golden as Alex removed them from the oven and turned it off. The smell must have wafted through into the living room as Salome ‘paused’ the film and practically leapt into the kitchen, eager for a taste.

 

They both took one warm mince pie each and nibbled at them while they watched the rest of the movie.  Then Alex placed the rest of the, now cooled, mince pies into a Tupperware box and left them on the corner of the counter so she wouldn’t forget to take them into work in the morning, whilst Salome made herself ready for bed.

 

Alex tucked her daughter in, kissed her forehead and wished her goodnight, then settled herself on the sofa with another mince pie, _it’s only a small one, and they’re really tasty_ , and a glass of wine, knowing she would treasure these wonderful moments she gets with her daughter, forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehe, okay so I couldn't resist writing another one today.  
> Sorry if this made you hungry :P


	8. Tinsel

“Mommy, Mommy, wait!” Salome called from the living room as Alex reached the front door, preparing to leave for work.

 

“You need _this_!” She proudly held a small strand of golden tinsel out towards her mother and instructed her to turn around. So she did, and Salome stood on the chair in the hallway and tied the tinsel in a pretty loop around Alex’s ponytail, in such a way that it could be seen from every angle and had the two ends dangling at the sides, dancing with her curls.

 

She hoped down and replaced the chair as Alex glanced at her daughter’s handiwork in the full-length hallway mirror; strategically positioned for last-minute ‘hair/make-up/outfit checks’ before leaving the flat.

 

“Thank you, Darling” she smiled, giving Salome a quick hug and a kiss to the top of her head, before rushing through the door.

 

Everyone else was already there by the time Alex arrived on set. Crew were setting up for another day of filming, hair and make-up girls were scurrying around the extras; applying foundation and mascara and ensuring there were no rogue locks of hair or untamed curls, fellow actors were at their usual morning post; chatting by the coffee machine and many other people were milling about with jobs here and there.

 

Steven managed to gather his core actors and crew together as he noted Alex’s arrival, telling them the plan for the day, what time they hoped they would be finished by; if all goes well, a couple other announcements and finally that a box of tinsel had kindly been brought in, by one of the crew, for decorating purposes.

 

“So, if you find yourself on a break and are unsure of how to occupy yourself, feel free to decorate the set,” Steven propositioned. “To a certain degree,” he added glancing at Matt and Karen, “Don’t go overboard, we still need to film, so please keep it tasteful.”

 

Once Steven had conveyed all he needed to say, the group dispersed. Alex and Karen headed toward ‘hair and make-up’ while the boys disappeared to ‘wardrobe’ for their costumes.

 

“That’s pretty!” Karen exclaimed, flicking one of the tails of the tinsel in Alex’s hair.

 

“My daughter wouldn’t let me walk out the door this morning without it!”

 

“Oh, you should wear it for this episode,” Karen stated excitedly, “It’s supposed to be Christmassy!”

 

“I doubt I’ll be allowed, sweetie, but I’ll ask. Salome would love it!”Alex smiled, and then paused in her tracks, “What’s that?”

 

Karen had a large, fluffy string of tinsel wrapped over her shoulders like a feather boa; red with gold flecks at the ends.

 

“Tinsel from the box Martine brought in. Thought I’d give the ‘hair and make-up’ department a bit of a Christmas make-over” she smirked at her own words and Alex giggled. “And, what is _that_?” She pointed at a blue Tupperware box in Alex’s hands.

 

“Er, well it may just happen to be a box of homemade mince pies...” she began.

 

“Mince Pies!” Karen squealed, grabbing the plastic box in Alex’s grasp. She peeled off the lid and inhaled deeply, “god, they smell amazing! Can I have one?”

 

“Course you can! I brought them in for the cast and crew after Salome and I made them last night. And they _are_ amazing, if I do say so myself!” she grinned as Karen took a bite of one of the larger looking mince pies, letting out a satisfied hum.

 

“Now then, Helen...” Alex hesitated a short while later, sitting down in front of her hairdresser, “Salome tied this tinsel in my hair this morning, and I was just wondering if we could ... well ... keep it there?”

 

“Oh how sweet!” Helen replied, catching Alex’s eye in the mirror, running both the tinsel and the curls in Alex’s ponytail between her fingers, “I think it looks adorable! And it would give the episode more of a festive touch!...um...I’ll ask Steven, just in case.”

 

With that, Helen pottered off, returning five minutes later with a grin and a nod.

 

“I’ll just tidy it up a little though, if that’s alright.”She suggested, promptly untying the tinsel and releasing Alex’s hair until it was loose around her shoulders.

 

Forty minutes later, and 5 mince pies down, Alex emerged from the newly decorated hair department, _thanks to Karen_ , sporting a high ponytail with neatly coiffed curls and Salome’s tinsel tied back around it.  Once she had obtained her usual costume, Alex ventured out into the studio to meet her friends and grab a coffee, _preferably with a mince pie_ , before filming.

 

“What d’ya think?” Matt demanded, pushing something small and furry into Alex’s face.

 

“Urff...Matt? I can’t...see it! Move away!” she waved her hands in front of her face, trying to shove this fluff, whatever it was, out of her eyes and mouth. Matt giggled, retracting his hand, and therefore the furry object, from Alex’s personal space, and she just spotted Karen rolling her eyes. “Oh! It’s your badger!”

 

“Charlie!” Matt corrected, “dapper, eh?” he gestured to the front of the badger puppet, that he had been given by a friend, Charlie McDonald, a couple of years previously, who was now wearing a glittering piece of dark blue, _you could almost call it TARDIS blue_ , tinsel around his neck, presumably as a tie.

 

“Very handsome!” Alex agreed, and was about to turn and pour herself a coffee when Steven called ‘attention’. She placed the open box of mince pies on the table by the coffee machine, as invitation to all, and filming began.

 

Most of the day whizzed past in a blur, and it wasn’t until almost 9pm that Alex finally noticed how grandly the set, and cast, had been decorated; Arthur had wrapped a small, silver, wiry strand of tinsel around the handle of his glasses, Karen had wound a pretty red piece around her headband, there was a gold string of tinsel bound around the handle of the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver, another silver strand covered the door handle on the TARDIS, two of the Dalek models had green and red tinsel spiralling around their eye-stalks and even the cat featuring in this episode had a scraggy gold string attached to its collar.  Not to mention the longer, fuller, more stylish tinsels draped around the set, looped over the fences and wrapped around the TARDIS console’s central column.

 

“Impressive” she breathed, granted she had been very involved in acting while all this had gone on, but she wasn’t sure how she hadn’t realised until now.

 

“You flatter me, Kingston!” Matt joked as he jogged up beside her.

 

“What?” Alex span round, “I’m sorry, Sweetie, you caught me off-guard.”

 

“ _Impressive_ , you said. I’m taking that as a huge compliment!” he winked.

 

Alex snorted, “I’m not sure you have anything _that_ impressive, Darling!”

 

“Oi!” he retorted, acting shocked, “I beg to differ!”

 

“Oh, really?” Alex raised an eyebrow, “And what do you think you have that would impress me?” She challenged, before immediately realising where this conversation was heading.

 

He just smirked, and she rolled her eyes, turning to walk away across the car park.

 

“Hey” he caught her arm, “I do have something that might impress you though.” His tone was more serious, so she listened. “I thought Salome might like it.” He opened his bag and slowly withdrew a long, curvy, gold string of tinsel, in almost perfect condition. “It was the first piece on the top of the pile this morning, so I rescued it before anyone had the chance to ruin it and kept it safe in here,” he explained. “Salome mentioned you didn’t have any really big pieces to wrap around the trunk of your Christmas tree, so, I saved it for her.”

 

Slightly lost for words at the kind gesture from her friend, Alex carefully took the tinsel from him and leaned up on her tiptoes, wrapping her arms around his neck in a tight hug.

 

“Thank you, Darling.” She kissed him on the cheek as she pulled away, “I’m sure Salome will love it.”

 

“Hope so.” he replied, kissing _her_ on the cheek, “Goodnight, Kingston. Thanks for the mince pies!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a request to do more 'on set', so I tried !!
> 
> Please let me know if you like these and I'll continue :) I'm certainly enjoying writing them!


	9. Ice Skating

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wasn't going to write this one, and then the first few lines just came to me and I couldn't walk away.
> 
> Enjoy reading while I catch up on some much needed sleep!

“Are you sure this is a good idea, Matt?” Alex questioned as they all walked from the car park, “I mean you’re not exactly the most ‘well-balanced’ of people are you dear?”

 

“ _That’s_ the understatement of the year!” Karen joined in, huddled between Alex and Arthur who walked briskly in an attempt to stay warm.

 

“I’m not _that_ bad Kaz!” Matt protested from the other side of Alex.

 

“Umm...who fell over his own shoes and landed at Alex’s feet the other day?” Karen pointed out.

 

“Well, that wasn’t my fault, everyone was staring at her and I ...” he tried to defend himself.

 

“...And who stumbled into the TARDIS prop doors...and straight _through_ them?” She added.

 

“I...but...I was...”

 

“And who was it that tripped over a cable last week, sending himself _and_ one of the lights crashing to the ground?”

 

“Alright Karen, I think we get the picture.” Alex giggled, a weak attempt to save him from any more humiliation, “like I said; not the _most_ ‘well-balanced’ of people.”

 

“You just wait ‘til you see me on the ice,” Matt pouted, “ _then_ we’ll see who’s laughing!”

 

It had just gone 8pm on Sunday night, and Matt, Alex, Karen and Arthur were going ice-skating at Hampton Court Palace Ice-rink.  The sky was dark but clear, the cold air nipped at their noses and their breaths came out in a mist.

 

Alex wore her white coat, scarf and gloves, with a black dress and leggings underneath; she was a confident skater and knew there was no way she would fall on the ice unless someone unsteady brought her down with them, hence why she had made a note to try to keep away from Matt.

 

Karen was wearing a mustard yellow coat with huge black buttons across the front, with a teal blue scarf and matching gloves. Not feeling so confident, she wore jeans with over-the-knee socks underneath, in the hope that they would protect her bony knees if she fell.

 

The boys both wore smart black coats with large collars. Arthur had a grey hoodie under his. And they were both wearing thick jeans and plain scarves and gloves. They, deciding to be gentlemen for the evening, offered to pay for the girls tickets and skate hire, and soon everyone was ready to venture out onto the ice.

 

They all wobbled a little walking on their blades from the locker room to the rink, but as soon as Alex’s skates met the ice, she was off; she hadn’t been ice-skating in a while but to her it felt natural as she sailed through the crowd of people, skating two laps of the rink before returning, with a spin of course, to see how her friends were getting on.

 

Karen had barely managed to get onto the ice let alone skate anywhere, and Arthur was not much better, Alex observed.  She halted in front of them and skated backwards slowly as she watched them both clinging onto the side for dear life.

 

“You have to let go!” she urged.

 

“No _way_!” Karen hissed.

 

“Just relax.” Alex continued, and Arthur let go of the wall and shakily moved to the other side of Karen.

 

“Arthur, don’t you dare leave me!” she warned.

 

“I’m not going anywhere.” He reassured her, but really he didn’t think he would be anywhere as he needed that wall within reaching distance.

 

Seeing the fear he was trying so hard to hide, Alex laughed and turned to leave them to it.

 

“Where’s Matt?” she enquired.

 

“I dunno” Arthur replied. Karen seemed too focused on moving one foot in front of the other, without them sliding out from under her, to even notice Alex was still there. “Looked like he was trying to follow you after you sped off at such speed. Show off!” He meant to sound disgruntled during that last statement, but his mouth twitched into a proud smile and Alex grinned at him before moving off in search of Matt.

 

She was a little anxious as she dodged in between the other skaters, seeking him out. It was a busy evening and the swarm of people made it difficult to single out one individual. It would also be making it harder for an unsure skater to stay on his feet, she thought as she looked around frantically.  She made it through the sea of skaters to the middle of the rink, flashes and swirls of colour rushing around her; she had thought it may be easier to spot him from here, but apparently she was wrong.

 

“Kingston!” a voice boomed behind her and someone placed their hands on her waist to steady her as she span round in shock.

 

“God, Matt! You scared the life outta me!” she gasped.

 

“Sorry!” He laughed breathily, “I’ve been looking for you, where’d you go? You just sped off!”

 

“I wanted to feel like I was flying!” She answered honestly, “When I can skate around the entire rink and get my speed up, it feels like I’m flying. I just wanted to do a couple of laps before I had to slow down for my friends.”

 

“But you disappeared!”

 

“I went back to check on you three, but you’d gone!” she protested, “We should keep an eye on Karen and Arthur though, they’re not very sure of themselves yet.”

 

“No!” Matt laughed in agreement, “And they were teasing _me_ for not having any balance!”

 

“Go on then, tell me, how many times have you fallen over?” Alex asked with a smirk, placing her hands over his on her waist.

 

“I haven’t!” he exclaimed, “And I almost managed to catch up to you, twice!”

 

“Really?” she queried, raising an eyebrow, unconvinced.  He was the clumsiest person she knew. He couldn’t help it; it’s just how he was. She found it rather adorable at times. And although most of his friends would point and roar with laughter when he fell, she couldn’t help but wince and make sure he was alright before giggling along with the others. “So why are you holding onto me so tightly, Darling?”

 

“To stop _you_ from falling!” he smirked, loosening his grip.

 

“You gave me a fright!” she complained, “I am usually very steady on the ice.”

 

“Any excuse.” His left hand fell from her waist, his right hand moving to seek out hers and lead them back into the throng. “Just admit that I’m better at this than you are.”

 

“In your dreams!” she shot back as they meandered through the crowd of skaters, hand in hand.

 

“Alright, perhaps not better than you.” He resigned, “But better than you thought I would be?”

 

“Sweetie, I know how dangerous it can be for you on still, solid ground, let alone on a slippery surface! Who knew this would be your forte.”

 

“Mmm that doesn’t quite sound like a yes...”

 

“Okay, yes! I admit that you do seem to be a _lot_ better at this than any of us thought you would.”

 

“I’ve barely even begun, Kingston!” he winked, letting go of her hand and swooping in and out of the mass of skaters ahead of her.

 

Alex let out a frustrated sigh, but it wasn’t long before she sped up after him and joined him in his race.  They weaved their way through the crowd, easily the fastest on the rink, crossing over each other’s paths, turning to skate backwards trying to stare each other down, circling round each other in a teasing dance.

 

Until Alex caught sight of Karen; arms flailing, trying to catch her balance and grabbing onto an already unsteady Arthur in response. They both tumbled to the ground in a mess of limbs and groaned. Alex winced and altered her direction to check on them.

 

Concentrating on her destination and not keeping an eye on her surroundings, she was almost knocked down by a high speed skater who had lost control; or never had it in the first place. Matt followed after her and caught her around the waist again as she spun and tried to find her balance.

 

She clung to him as she regained composure, and then focused her attention back to Karen and Arthur, who had managed to clamber back onto their feet, had wrapped their arms around each other completely to keep themselves upright and were giggling breathlessly like little schoolgirls.

 

Gazing into Arthur’s eyes, Karen soon sobered as she finally noticed the adoration that had been clouding them for so long. She cleared her throat and looked down, but Arthur caught her chin with a gentle finger and brought her face back up to meet his, smiling. Bowing his head slightly, he brought his lips to hers in a soft, chaste kiss.

 

As he pulled away, he noticed Karen’s eyes flutter open. She alternated between looking in his eyes and at his mouth for a few moments, then either confidently, or uncaring if they ended up on the floor again, she flung her arms around his neck and kissed him back.

 

Alex averted her gaze with a warm smile, leaving them to themselves, to find Matt already staring down at her, with is arms still wrapped around her waist.  She noticed she had one hand on his upper arm and the other on his chest where she had been leaning as she righted her balance.

 

“How sweet!” she offered, appreciating their proximity and attempting to alleviate the sudden tension that had settled between them, “Finally!” She added, “It’s about time he showed her how he feels.”

 

“Mmmhmm,” Matt replied, not really paying much attention to what she had _said_ but they way her lips had moved.

 

“Shame we don’t have any mistletoe, or we could join them, Darling.” She joked, rubbing her hands up and down his arms as she felt herself cooling rapidly.

 

“We don’t need mistletoe to do that, Kingston!” He swiftly appeared to come back to the world, wrapping his arms round her even tighter.

 

“Oh, don’t we?” she raised her eyebrows in question.

 

“Nope,” he pulled her closer, “just good company.”

 

“Well, it is Christmas I suppose.” She smirked and slid her arms up around his shoulders.

 

He hummed in agreement as he leaned in and kissed her. And just like that everything seemed to slow around them, the skaters were gliding gently past them and the Christmas music that had been playing all night became a whisper, until Alex heard Karen wolf-whistle and she smiled against his mouth before pulling away.

 

“Happy Christmas, Matthew!” she breathed.

 

“Happy Christmas, Alex!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think, your feedback is always appreciated! :)


	10. Frost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while since I wrote a chapter - Christmas happened :)
> 
> I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! Please enjoy x

Alex left Salome in bed under her cosy covers this morning and dashed out the door without her usual breakfast and coffee as her alarm clock had not woken her up.

 

She was late. This morning was as cold as every other day this week, but this time instead of snow covering everything in sight, there was frost.

 

Alex smiled at how pretty it looked in swirling patterns across her car roof and bonnet, and then she realised, there was frost on her windscreen. Her car was covered in frost and would take another ten minutes, at least, to thaw-out and she’d have to scrape it off the windows and... “Oh, I really don’t have time for this!” she growled at the frost between gritted teeth.

 

Twelve agonisingly slow minutes later, with a frozen nose and numb fingers and toes, Alex was finally able to see through the windscreen and drive off to work.

 

She screeched into the car park and jumped out of the car, pulling her handbag from the passenger footwell, not noticing that it was still open, and proceeded to spill its entire contents all over the ground.

 

“Damnit!” she cursed as she bent to pick up her lipstick, mirror, loose change, sweet wrappers and phone and place them back in her bag.

 

She didn’t notice how empty the car park looked for a normal day at the studio as she slammed her car door and strode off towards the set.

 

Approaching the building Alex realised just how quiet it seemed, inside as well as out. She pulled on the doors to the studio, but they wouldn’t open. She tried one of the fire exit doors around the side and that wouldn’t open. Then she peered in through the frosty window into the corridor and saw nothing. The building was empty, the lights were out, and no one was there.

 

Thoroughly confused and cold and not in the mood for any games, Alex swore under her breath and rummaged in her handbag for her phone. Of course it hadn’t enjoyed its fall from her handbag to the hard, frozen ground, not five minutes earlier, and had turned itself off.

 

Alex growled as she turned it back on again and checked her messages. She had been in too much of a hurry this morning to notice the voicemail button flashing and therefore had not received the message from Steven that filming today would be postponed to this afternoon, or whenever the frost melted, as they were doing an outdoor shoot and did not want frosty scenery, no matter how pretty it looked.

 

“Seriously?” Alex whined out loud to no one in particular, and then jumped as the phone in her hand vibrated. She had a text. From Matt.

 

_Hey! So...what you doing? M xxx_

Alex stared at her screen. Well he had obviously got the message and now had nothing to do until filming resumed.

 

_Freezing! What are you doing?_

Alex began to make her way back to her car, feeling somewhat less annoyed at the World than she had been all morning. She looked around her at the trees that appeared to have grown white fur overnight, and the frosted grass crunched beneath her feet.

 

_Why are you freezing? Turn your heating up!!! I’m gonna make me a hot drink and watch a movie wrapped up in my duvet :) M xxx_

Of course! He thought she was still at home, having got the message that filming was cancelled this morning.  But, she wasn’t.

 

_Not at home. Can’t turn heating up outside! That sounds divine, I wish I was doing that! x_

His reply was almost instant; she’d only made it half way across the car park.

 

_Where are you?? M xxx_

 

_Outside studio, heading back to car. X_

_Come here!!! I’ll make you a coffee too :) M xxx_

_I would Darling but I don’t know where you are!_

_My trailer! M xxx_

“Oh!” Alex gasped, she hadn’t expected anyone to be staying in their trailers in this weather; their heating systems were modest and the only time they ever felt warm inside was in the middle of Summer, and then they got so hot it felt like living in an oven.

 

Her car was in sight; she could get into her tiny, ice-box of a vehicle and drive the twenty minutes home before curling up under her duvet until filming recommenced. Or, she could turn round now and walk three minutes to Matt’s trailer and have him bring her coffee and hot chocolate and watch movies and chat and laugh. Salome didn’t need her, she had Christine, and she’d probably stay in bed all day anyway. Mind made up, Alex turned on the spot and typed out a message as she trotted in the direction of Matt’s trailer.

 

_On my way! x_

She knocked on the trailer door and hopped from one foot to the other in an attempt to warm up, it wasn’t working.  Suddenly the door in front of her swung open and nearly sent her flying.

 

“Kingston!” Matt grinned, “What are you doing outside in this weather? Get in here!”

 

Alex ducked under his arm and into the warmth of Matt’s trailer. The kettle clicked off as she looked around; the TV was glowing in one corner, his tiny Christmas Tree in another, tinsel hung across the kitchen cabinets and around a picture frame. It was cosy and dark and, most importantly, warm.

 

“Sorry it’s so cold in here,” Matt apologised, “I’m just making coffee. You like one?”

 

“Oh, yes please, Darling.” Alex sighed,” And it actually feels rather warm in here to me!”

 

Alex sat one end of the minute, well worn sofa and tucked her feet up underneath her as Matt brought her a coffee and sat himself down next to her.

 

“Was gonna watch the Grinch,” Matt suggested, “but I’ve got all those, what would you like?” he gestured to a shelf of DVD’s, “You pick while I grab my duvet!”

 

“The Grinch is fine, Sweetie,” Alex called after him, and took a sip of her steaming coffee.

 

“Oh, good!” He returned with a huge, dark red duvet and placed it over the both of them as he settled back onto the sofa, and pressed play.

 

“Thank you for the coffee, Darling, I’m well and truly cosy now,” Alex smiled at him as she placed her empty coffee mug on the table in front of them. Then all of a sudden, everything went dark.

 

“You’re welcome...um...”Matt hesitated, “That wasn’t supposed to happen!”

 

“Power cut?” she queried, unwilling to move from the cocoon she had made herself within Matt’s duvet.

 

“Think so.” He didn’t really want to move either, but the curtains were still closed and they could barely even see each other, let alone anything else in the room.  Matt slowly untangled himself from his duvet and stood, making his way across the black room to the window by the door.

 

He only tripped over one thing on his way; Alex couldn’t help the giggle that escaped her, and managed to get the curtain open enough to allow some light back into the room.

 

“Guess that’s the end of the movie then,” Matt stated, “What are we going to do to occupy ourselves now?” He winked at her.

 

Alex giggled again, “Oh, I don’t know,” she said wistfully, “I think I’ll stay under this duvet, it’s keeping me ever so warm.”

 

“Ah, so you don’t need any more warming up then? ‘Cause I can think of a few things we could do to help with that!”

 

She blushed, and mentally blamed it on the warmth from the duvet and coffee, although she knew it was a result of the thoughts her mind had conjured up from what Matt had said. He was so young, and oddly handsome, and kind; very gentlemanly and their conversations, although nothing was said with intent, were always laden with flirting and suggestions.

 

“Oh, really? Like what?” she questioned as he re-joined her on the sofa.

 

“Wouldn’t you like to know!” he teased, bopping her on the nose with the end of a long finger. Alex scrunched it up in response.

 

“I wouldn’t mind another coffee, Darling,” she suggested.

 

“Can’t! No electricity, equals no kettle, Kingston!” he explained as if she were three.

 

“Oh no! That’s not fair!” she whined. “What _are_ we going to do then?”

 

Alex attempted to huddle deeper into Matt’s duvet, but he stood and took her hands, hauling her up off the sofa and into the cool air of the trailer.

 

“Oi! What are you doing? I was warm in there,” she complained.

 

“ _We_ are going to look at the prettiness of the frost, Kingston!” he replied matter-of-factly, “I know it’s cold so we won’t be long, but I bet you were travelling at the speed of light this morning and missed it all. And soon it’ll melt and we’ll all be back to filming and won’t have appreciated its prettiness.”

 

“Okay...” she looked up at him as if he were slightly mad, and he grinned down at her.

 

“We’re just going to appreciate its prettiness,” he confirmed, and she smiled.

 

And it was pretty! Even at ‘the speed of light’ she had noticed the frost had made swirling patterns on the windows and created a fur on the branches of the trees and the grass underfoot. But with Matt by her side, and her hand in his, she appreciated so much more; the darting patterns across the frozen puddles, the delicate spider-webs glistening in their intricately spun designs and the sparkle from the ground and the trailer walls as the sun began to peek through the clouds.


	11. Eggnog

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure I'll make all 25, sorry! May just make it 12 days of Christmas.
> 
> I have something else I'm working on for you guys and these were just practise as I haven't written like this in about six years!
> 
> Enjoy x

“If you are all inviting yourself round mine for drinks and games, then _I_ am providing the drink,” Alex stated as her friends all fought over who would bring what.

 

“So you’re saying _yes_ then?” Karen grinned and skipped along beside Alex and the boys.

 

“I suppose I am,” Alex replied, “Salome is staying at her grandparents tonight so unfortunately I don’t see any reason for me to say ‘no’.”

 

“Yes! You are the best!” Karen squealed and hugged Alex very tightly. “You won’t regret it!”

 

“Wanna bet!” Alex rolled her eyes and shrugged Karen off her, “But I did say _I_ am providing the drink, don’t you come bringing anything else or I will not be letting you in.”

 

“Fine! All meet up at Alex’s in one hour!” Karen commanded excitedly then hopped in the front of Arthur’s car.

 

The boys nodded and Alex sighed and they all filed out of the car park.

 

On the way home Alex popped into the local store and picked up more milk, sugar, eggs and rum, hoping she still had enough cinnamon from last year for her plan.

 

Once home, she dropped everything on the kitchen counter, placed a quick call to her mother; just to check on Salome, and then jumped into the shower.

 

Forty minutes later she was dressed in a black skirt that flowed to just below her knees and a deep red, blouse with a low ‘v’ in the neck that just showed an appropriate amount of cleavage.  Her hair was pinned up, with a few ringlets falling beside her face, and her make-up was minimal. With bare feet, toenails painted red, she scurried back into the kitchen to begin whipping up the first batch of eggnog.

 

A loud bang on the door indicated the arrival of her friends and she popped her head out through the kitchen door to greet them.

 

“Come in, it’s unlocked,” she smiled, and then returned to her work on the kitchen counter.

 

“You’re a star, Kingston!” a familiar voice said from the doorway, “What are you making?”

 

“Thank you, Darling.” She turned and ushered Matt out of the kitchen, “go and make yourself at home, I’ll be out with drinks in a minute!”

 

“So secretive, Kingston, we see that look on you far too often!”

 

“What look?” she replied in her best ‘River Song’ impression.

 

“Your, ‘ _I know something you don’t know_ ’, look.” He grinned.

 

“Oh, shut up!” she pushed him in the direction of the sofa and sauntered back to the kitchen.

 

“Make me.” He finished their lines under his breath, as Karen turned the Christmas music on and ‘So here it is, Merry Christmas’ came blasting through the speakers.

 

“Are you all sitting comfortably?” Alex queried as she re-entered the living room with a tray of four identical drinks in her hands.

 

She placed the tray on her coffee table and knelt down in front of it.  Karen immediately leant forward from her position on the sofa and grabbed a glass, studying it carefully.

 

“What is it?” she enquired as Matt took a glass and Alex handed one to Arthur.

 

“It’s not going to poison you,” Alex replied, “so you can stop sniffing it and making that funny face, Mr Smith!”

 

“It looks weird,” he justified.

 

“What’s in it?” Arthur joined in.

 

“Just drink it!” Alex ordered, exasperated with all their untrusting questions.

 

She picked up a glass and brought it to her lips, smiled at her friends as they all watched her, and took a sip.

 

“Mmm, perfect!” Alex nodded, “Now your turn.” She gestured to them to drink, and they did.

 

She watched their reactions with amusement.

 

Arthur seemed alright with it, he smiled and nodded in approval, and took another sip.

 

Karen, almost looked as though she was going to spit it back out.

 

“Don’t you dare,” Alex warned, “kitchen sink, if you really can’t stand it.” She said pointing behind her towards the kitchen.

 

Karen swallowed and made a face, putting her glass back on the table in front of her.

 

“Well, that was...different.” Matt added, “not sure whether I like it or not.”

 

“Well have another sip then, Darling.”

 

“Eww it’s disgusting, how can you keep drinking it?” Karen interjected, “Do you have anything else Alex? ‘Cause I can’t drink that all night!”

 

“Oh dear, well maybe tonight will be the night _you_ are the sober one!” Alex toasted her glass to Karen and took another sip.

 

“It’s not bad,” Matt contemplated the glass in his hand, “the cinnamon is nice, but I can’t work out what else is in it.”

 

“It’s Eggnog!” Alex stated excitedly, “I had a feeling you may not have had it before, as I hadn’t before I went to LA, so I thought I would make some for you all to try.”

 

“Oooh,” Matt smiled as he realised what he was drinking.

 

“So, you weren’t trying to poison us then?” Karen remarked, “You genuinely _like_ drinking this?”

 

“Why would I want to poison you?” she replied, “And yes I enjoy it. I didn’t like my first glass, but I tried it again and warmed to it.” Alex emphasised her words and gestured to Karen’s discarded glass.

 

“I have had eggnog before,” Arthur stated calmly, “but it was different. This is nicer.”

 

“Thank you, Arthur, well I use milk instead of cream and I put rum in it.”

 

He gave an understanding nod and returned to his drink.

 

“What else can you put in it?” Karen questioned as she cautiously took another tiny sip.

 

“Oh, anything really; brandy, whisky, vodka. I sprinkle cinnamon on top but some people use nutmeg, or, anything you like really.”

 

“Yep,” Matt suddenly declared, “decided I like it!”

 

“Oh good, I’m glad.” Alex sighed, relieved that only one of her friends were not going to be too happy with her in the morning.

 

The rest of the evening went by in a blur; the music was playing, they danced, badly, and played drinking games and even Karen joined in and managed to get drunk once she’d found Alex’s vodka and added that, instead of the rum, and left out the cinnamon.

 

In the early hours of the morning, the barely tipsy Arthur, _how was he not drunk? He’d had more than anybody, hadn’t he?_ Decided it was time to get Karen home and suggested Matt and Alex get to bed too.

 

“He didn’t mean in the same bed,” Alex scolded Matt for such a suggestion.

 

“But you wouldn’t send me out into the cold night to make my way home in this state would you Kingston?” he questioned her with a slur; “after all, you’re the one who fed us these drinks!”

 

Arthur and Karen had already gone, so Matt couldn’t nab a lift off them, and true, he couldn’t drive in this state and he was not likely to find a taxi either.

 

“Fine,” Alex gave in and began tidying the insides of party poppers and the glasses away into the kitchen.

 

“Yay! You’re the best Kingston!” Matt bounded up her hallway towards her bedroom.

 

“So they say,” she looked around as she came out of the kitchen. “Now where are you?”

 

“In your bed!” he replied, voice innocent, and he yawned.

 

Alex stormed, as well as she could given how much she had had to drink, into her bedroom and was about to demand he leave and he could have the sofa if he had to stay, but she stopped in her tracks.  Matt was curled into the duvet on the far side of her king-size bed, facing the door, eyes closed and looking so adorable, she couldn’t bear to kick him out; it would be like throwing a puppy out into the rain.

 

She couldn’t help the smile that crept across her face. They were friends right? And they were both fully clothed; Alex has settled for changing into her more comfortable pj’s half way through the evening as it was her apartment her friends had crashed. There would be no harm in sharing a bed for one night.

 

She moved inside and gently closed the door behind her, too tired to bother with cleaning her teeth; she pulled back the duvet on her side of the bed and slid under the covers. Turning on her side to face her friend, she sighed, “Goodnight Matthew,” and closed her eyes.


	12. Christmas Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this is my last chapter. As it has past Christmas I thought it would probably best to finish the Christmas story and move onto something else.
> 
> It may be the last, but I also think it is my best.
> 
> Enjoy x

The sunlight streamed in through the window and fell across the bed, lighting her face. Alex stirred and her eyes fluttered open, to see two beautiful, sleepy, hazel eyes staring straight back at her. She started, and sat bolt upright, until she remembered what had happened the night before. They were so drunk on ‘Queen Alex’s Magnificent Eggnog’, as it had been named, that Matt had stayed, Alex had forgone cleaning her teeth; which she now regretted, and had forgotten to draw the curtains, before crawling into bed next to him without a care in the world.

“Morning,” she chirped once she had realised nothing had happened last night.

Matt rolled onto his back a stretched, “Morning Kingston,” he yawned.

“I’ll get us a coffee shall I? Not sure I can handle anything more substantial.”

“Mmm, I could wake up to this every morning,” he replied, rolling back onto his side as sleep tried to drag him back under.

“Ha! Don’t get used to it, Darling,” she laughed as she wrapped a pink silk dressing gown around her and wandered into the kitchen, “In fact, I’ll just stay in here with the coffee, and you can come get it when you’re up.”

“Meany!” Matt retorted, and he rolled onto his other side.

Three minutes later Alex looked up from her drink to see a very dishevelled looking Matt leaning against her kitchen door frame, yawning again. His clothes, the same as he was wearing last night, were rumpled, his hair was sticking out at odd angles and he had the crease of the pillow indented in his right cheek.

“Coffee?” he asked sleepily as he flopped onto one of the stools, letting his forehead rest on the kitchen counter.

“Mmm,” Alex shook her head as she swallowed another sip, “decided to go for hot chocolate, hope that’s alright?”

“Oh you’re wonderful,” Matt lifted his head and stretched his hands out to wrap them around his mug and take a sip.

“Not a morning person then?” Alex queried, between sips.

“Not after ‘Queen Alex’s Magnificent Eggnog’,” he replied begrudgingly, “normally I’m fine with mornings.”

Alex giggled and finished her drink, placing the mug in the sink and slinking off down the hall to the bathroom.

“Er...Alex,” Matt called through the bathroom door a couple minutes later, “I’m, um... I’m gonna pop home and change before work, if that’s okay?”

“Sure!” Alex replied, “Didn’t mean to keep you, Darling. See you at work!”

Forty-five minutes later Alex arrived on set and sought out Karen and Arthur to see how well they had survived her ‘Magnificent Eggnog’.

“Morning, Dad!” She greeted Arthur, who seemed just as chipper as he always did, no sign of a hangover whatsoever.

“Good morning,” he replied, “I bet you’re glad you didn’t wake up next to Karen this morning!”

“Oh god yes! Although I did wake up next to... never mind! Wait, what? So did you wake up next to Karen this morning?”

“Mmm, I did,” he said quietly, “thought it best someone stay to make sure she was alright.”

“How thoughtful of you dear. And was she?”

“Slept like an angel,” he smiled, “when she woke up though...” he pulled a face and hurriedly looked around him.

“What? What happened?” Alex asked, a little concerned.

“Let’s just say she’s not a morning person.” He stated, “Especially after “Queen Ale...”

“Queen Alex’s Magnificent Eggnog,” Alex cut him off, “Yes I know, neither is...um, never mind.”

“Alex,” Arthur looked at her seriously, “Who did you wake up next to this morning?”

“No one!”

“Really? ‘Cause it sounds like ‘someone’.”

“Well, no...I...” she spluttered.

“I left you with Matt last night when I took Karen home,” he smiled, “What happened?”

“Nothing happened, Arthur,” she felt like she was being found out by her Dad, “He just...I dunno...stayed.”

“He stayed.” Arthur repeated, “On...the sofa?”

“Um, no...”

“You made him a comfy little bed in your bath?”

She giggled at the idea of sleeping in a bath, “No!”

“Oh, Alex.” Arthur sighed.

“Okay so he stayed in my bed, but nothing happened!” she emphasised the word again, hoping he would drop the subject.

“Fine, if you say so.” He resigned.

“I do!”

“I thought you said there wasn’t much alcohol in those Eggnog thingys you made us drink.” Karen complained as she trudged into the studio and laid her head on Alex’s shoulder.

“Well there wasn’t in the ones I made, dear, but then you insisted on taking over making your drinks with vodka and I have no idea how much you used.”

“Please don’t shout,” Karen whispered, “Everyone is so loud this morning.” She gave Arthur a pointed look then returned her head to Alex’s shoulder.

“Right, now that everyone is here,” Steven began, as he gestured towards the door where Matt had just appeared, “Let us begin!”

Matt sauntered over to the little huddle of friends, looking a lot more refreshed, in new clothes and tame hair, than he had this morning in Alex’s kitchen.

“We have cider and mulled wine for you all as it is Christmas, but please go easy, we do still have filming to do.” Steven winked, “And then there is my Christmas party tonight, at which you may all get as sloshed as you like!”

“Hair of the dog that bit you, Kazza?” Matt suggested as he reached for two glasses of mulled wine.

“Well, I’m not gonna say no to alcohol am I?” she replied, taking a glass from Matt’s hand and finding a seat.

Filming was a breeze and the day passed relatively uneventful, then Alex found herself at home getting ready for the evening ahead. It was still quite early as they had only had a short day of filming, so they all had plenty of time before Steven’s Christmas Who Party began at 7.30pm.

Alex hung up her coat and made herself a cup of tea before deciding she had time for a quick bath to relax her before the party.

She turned the taps on and added floral fragranced bubbles, removed her clothes, piled her hair on top of her head and dipped her toes in to check the temperature before submerging the rest of her body beneath the steaming water.

She closed her eyes and sighed as the warmth began to relax her muscles. She enjoyed moments like this, with the silence, nothing but the feel of the water gently moving around her; she’d contemplate life and the world and everything in moments like these. This time she found her thoughts on Christmas; family and friends, the love and joy she finds with them, her daughter and happiness, drinking hot chocolate, playing in the snow, going ice skating, having parties round at each others’ flats, Karen and Arthur, her and Matt...Wait, her and Matt shouldn’t be put together. They weren’t together. Sure they were friends, they talked and flirted and teased and okay so they’d kissed but that was only because of the mistletoe. Oh and then again ice skating, but that was only because of...Christmas? Could she really just blame it on Christmas, or was there actually something there. No, he’s just a very good friend. She convinced herself. Besides he’s so young and gentlemanly, he could have anyone he wanted, girls more his age, he would have absolutely no interest in some old woman he happens to work with...

Her thoughts were shattered by the piercing ring of her mobile.

“Bugger,” she sat up, soap suds sliding off her shoulders. She had left her phone in her jeans pocket, which were now lying on the floor by her bathroom door.

Deciding to let it go to voicemail, she ignored it and sunk back down under the bubbles to return to her thoughts.

She didn’t get the chance as her phone interrupted her again. Annoyed with the intrusion, she clambered out of the bath, wrapped a towel around her to stop from dripping everywhere and pulled her phone from the pocket on her floor.

“What?” she answered rudely, immediately regretting it once she realised who it was.

“Er...Kingston!” Matt said, trying not to sound put off by her greeting. “You, er... You okay?”

“Oh, yes Matt, I’m sorry, I was in the bath and ... well you interrupted me.”

“Oh, sorry! I can call back later?”

“No! No, it’s fine, you have me now. What is it you want?” Still sounding rude, she told herself.

“Ah, well, I...I just wanted to ask you...um...if, well, if you’d like to share a lift to the party tonight?” he said the last bit fast.

“Oh, alright, Darling. Yes! That sounds like a brilliant idea.”

“Good!” he said, voice calmed, “Well then, I shall pick you up at...quarter past seven?” he paused for effect.

“Fabulous! See you then, Sweetie.” She was about to hang up the phone when she heard his voice again.

“Cool. Um...what are you wearing?”

“Sorry, what?” she held the phone back to her ear.

“What are you wearing?” he repeated.

“What, now? I was in the bath, Matthew!” She stated, a little shocked.

“No! God no, I... I mean tonight! What are you wearing tonight? To the Party?”

She could hear his embarrassment in his voice, and she blushed.

“Oh, I see, well...um...you’ll have to wait and see won’t you dear.” She hesitated, thrown by what she had thought he meant.

“What’s that word you use?”

“Spoilers!” she giggled, and she winked even though he couldn’t see her.

“Of course.” Matt replied, “See you tonight then, Kingston!” and he hung up.

Deciding that the steam from her bath had gone to her head, she placed her phone down and shook all the silly thoughts from her mind, drained the bathwater and made her way out into her bedroom.

After a few minutes rummaging through her wardrobe she lay out her chosen dress on the bed and began to hunt for shoes and jewellery. Ten minutes later she was studying herself in the long mirror that runs all the way down her wardrobe door; she wore a long black dress that ended just below her knees and fit snugly to her waist and hips, it dipped down into a curvy ‘v’ shape at the neck and had thick, pleated straps that went over each shoulder. She chose plain black, 3 inch stiletto heels and draped a gold, crinkle-look wrap around her shoulders. She hung a tiny gold chain around her neck, just over her collar bone, and added a similar bracelet and dangly earrings. Her hair had decided to behave itself and actually looked great down, so she added a little product and let it flow free; large bouncing curls framed her face and tumbled from the top of her head.

Alex wandered back into the bathroom to add a touch of foundation, a faint, gold shimmer eye shadow, black mascara and a little eyeliner. She was just adding the finishing touches with her dark red lipstick when there was a knock at the door. She clicked the cap back on and checked her face quickly in the oval mirror, before winking at herself and moving to answer the door.

“Just coming,” she called out at she entered her hallway.

“Kingston!” Matt grinned as the door swung open. Then his mouth dropped as he took in the sight of her.

“Stop gawping, Matt, and come inside a moment.” She smiled at him; dressed in a black, three piece suit, white shirt, and gold bow-tie, He’s wearing gold too; they’ll look like they came together, together, looking as smart and handsome as ever, but with his hair flopping in front of his eyes still, she could at least tell it was Matt. 

He stepped over the threshold and hovered with a small bunch of flowers in his hand.

“Um, got these for you.” He thrust them into her hands nervously and began to rock on his heels.

“Thank you, Darling, they’re lovely,” she exclaimed as she smelt the light pink peonies. “But what’s wrong? You seem really nervous! You’re just giving me a lift, honey.” She turned towards the kitchen and placed the flowers in a vase on the windowsill.

“Yes, I know,” he fumbled with his bow-tie in the mirror, “it just feels like it should be more.”

“What do you mean?” she came back to his side, batting his hands away and fixed his, now wonky, bow-tie.

“Well, I mean,” he stumbled over the words, and couldn’t keep his hands still, “I mean, I like you, and it’s Christmas, and Christmas is a time for love and forgiveness, and...no regrets.”

“It is.” She encouraged him to continue.

“And, well, so I...um...I don’t, well, I don’t want to regret not saying anything, but then I don’t want to regret saying it too.”

“Saying what, sweetheart?” She held his hands still, as they were never going to of their own accord, and tried to catch his eyes with hers.

“I like you,” he said with more confidence, “well, no, more than that really. I mean, look at you, you’re stunning! And you’re funny and classy and flirty and just amazing to be around. I love being around you, Alex.”

She giggled and smiled up at him.

“And your laugh! It’s like music. It makes me feel all warm inside when I hear it, just knowing that you’re near and that you’re happy. It makes me happy. You make me happy. And...And that’s what I wanted to say...I think.”

“Oh, Darling, I like you too. You are a very good friend and I never want to lose you.” Alex grinned, “Now let’s go to this party shall we!” She linked her arm in his and began to move out the door.

Matt didn’t move with her though, “No, Alex! I like you, like you. As more than a friend. I have done for a while, I’ve just been too scared to do anything about it.”

“But...” she turned back to him in surprise.

“I thought you might get the idea when I upped my flirting, but you just upped yours too, like it was a game.”

“But, I thought...”

“Then I thought kissing you would get through to you, but you just blamed it on the mistletoe.”

“You used it as an excuse too!”

“I did, but then I kissed you again, and you kissed me back!”

Alex looked down at her feet, remembering all too well being swept up in the moment on the ice; in Matt’s arms and happily kissing him back while the music played and the snow began to fall.

“Alex,” he moved in close to her and she backed up against the doorframe, “I’ll show you one more time how I feel about you, and then you get to decide whether you come with me to this party, or make your own way there.”

Alex had barely nodded in understanding before his hands cupped her face and his lips met hers. She whimpered at the contact and rested her hands on his waist. He leaned his body against her and she revelled in the way they seemed to fit together. Her hands skimmed up his back and found purchase on his shoulders as one of his hands moved down to find her waist.

His other hand snaked its way into her hair and he changed the angle of the kiss, slipping his tongue inside her mouth as she gasped. He adjusted his position so that one of his legs was pressing between hers and a jolt of warmth shot through her body. Suppressing a groan she allowed her legs to part a little more and began to dance her tongue around his in a battle for dominance.

Just as more warmth pooled in her stomach, Matt pulled away, and stepped outside into the corridor.

“Now, we can finish this after the party, or, you can tell me to leave right now.” He said, his voice low and raspy.

Alex’s chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath, this really isn’t the best dress for breathing in. “Don’t go,” she managed, “please, I’ll go with you.”

“With me, as a friend? Or with me, with me?” he demanded.

“With you, with you.” She replied firmly, “But Matthew, I have a lot to consider before we tell people about this, so can you not... er...not make it too obvious, just yet, please Darling?”

Matt grinned at her and held out his arm, and she couldn’t help but smile back. She leant her head back against the doorframe as she caught her last breath, and then looked back up at Matt.

Smiling again, she grabbed her purse and closed her front door, then turned and linked her arm with Matt’s. She stood on her tiptoes and placed a kiss, full of promise, to the corner of his mouth, then giggled with joy as they made their way down the stairs to, what guaranteed to be, an amazing night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have thoroughly enjoyed writing these and really hope you have enjoyed reading them. As I have said, I haven't written in a long time and these were just practise to get me into it again. So, thank you for all your support! :)


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